"You can only confiscate the wealth that exists at a given moment. You cannot confiscate future wealth – and that future wealth is less likely to be produced when people see that it is going to be confiscated."

Much has been made about the pending ‘fiscal cliff’ facing the US economy. Automatic spending cuts and tax hikes will go into effect on the first of the new year if our wise leaders in Washington don’t come together and save us (from the problem they themselves created). Here are ten quick thoughts I have about the whole fiscal cliff fiasco:

#1Indivisible Liberty: Personal, Political, and Economic by Doug Bandow (FEE.org) "Liberty is indivisible. Economic freedom is as important as personal or political freedom, because the personal, the political, and the economic are strands of the same braid: liberty. Thus, the only way to achieve and protect a free society is to defend liberty in all its forms." Read More...

#2 We Already Went Over the Fiscal Cliff by Robert Murphy (Free Advice) "The hemming and hawing over the looming “fiscal cliff” is akin to passengers fighting over who gets to sit in the first class seats in a jumbo jet that just ran out of fuel. The U.S. government already sent the country over the cliff years ago; it’s just taken this long to (possibly) acknowledge reality." Read More...

#3 Now UN Promotes Global Education (The Daily Bell) "The United Nations is promoting educational goals. Ten years ago, the "international community" authorized the UN to achieve something called Education for All by 2015." Read More...

#4 Action, Time, and the Market by Jeffrey M. Herbener (Mises.org) "The wellspring of all economic theory is the reality of the human condition. As a finite being, man makes a distinction between ends and means. He cannot attain his ends by an act of will alone, but must apply means to attain his ends." Read More...

#5 What A Difference A Year Makes (ZeroHedge.com) The last time we were this net long, the S&P 500 dropped over 20% in the next two months... It would appear that any sustained rally from here will need to come from fresh and excited money as opposed to the short-squeeze of last year. Read More...